Many of the people you’re calling on today suffer from a severe case of Frazzled Customer Syndrome. This debilitating condition is brought on by excessive workloads, 24/7 availability, information overload, lack of sleep, and job-related stress.

You likely encounter these individuals on a daily basis. They’re good people who are doing their best to survive in a crazy-busy workplace.

Their calendars are overflowing and they’re constantly falling behind, but they feel powerless to stop the unrelenting, escalating demands on their time.

Their frantic pace is both exhausting and exhilarating. They can barely focus on important tasks because their days are filled with interruptions, distractions, and constantly changing activities.

One minute they’re working on a document. The next, they’re checking e-mail, text-messaging, responding to a customer, or doing research online. This frenetic multitasking fools them into thinking they’re accomplishing a lot, but in reality they’re doing very little.

The result? More work, unmet obligations, unfinished projects, and chronic feelings of underachievement.

To make matters worse, they don’t see an end in sight. Instead, they deal with constant downsizings and reorganizations and rapidly move from job to job, never really mastering their current one—all the while wondering if they’re next on the chopping block.

Their personal life is just as frenetic, as they juggle work commitments, family, and personal time until they crash in front of the TV every evening. It’s no wonder they don’t have time for you.

Recognizing the Symptoms

How do you know when you’re dealing with customers who suffer from Frazzled Customer Syndrome? Typically they:

Have a “net it out” mentality. These impatient, time-starved people want you to get to the bottom line right away. If you don’t, they’re immediately dismissive.

Get easily distracted. Even when they’re interested in what you have to say, their attention spans are short. They feel compelled to multitask whenever humanly possible.

Forget quickly. Because of their excessive flitting from task to task, much of what they commit to never makes it into their long-term memory.

Demand a lot. They expect you to jump through hoops to fulfill their requests, yet when it’s time for them to take action, they move like molasses.

Suffer from “analysis paralysis.” Faced with lots of change, multiple acceptable options, and the lack of time for thorough research, they appear overwhelmed, and nothing makes sense to them.

Withdraw from contact. When they’re buried under other priorities, they don’t have any news to report or they have bad news—or go silent altogether.

Frazzled Customer Syndrome makes your job so much harder. Dealing with overwhelmed people is completely different from working with calm, rational people who have time to analyze their situation and study multiple options before moving ahead. But those people are no longer the norm.

Your hot prospects fizzle or flame out. They politely (or sometimes not so politely) tell you that their priorities have changed, the budget has dried up or they have too much on their plate right now.

In most cases, your attempts to get them back on track are futile. They tell you to call back next month, but before long that becomes “next quarter,” and then, “next year.”

They just want to get rid of you. It’s not personal. They just can’t handle even one more item on their to-do list.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. By mastering the SNAP Rules, you can change how your prospects react to you.

Remember to: (1) Keep it Simple; (2) Be iNvaluable; (3) Always Align and (4) Raise Priorities. When you do that, frazzled prospects will want to work with you. And, they’ll rely on your guidance and advice when they make decisions.
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Want to learn more about these fresh strategies for selling to crazy-busy prospects? To get four FREE sales-accelerating tools and download two chapters of SNAP Selling, visit www.SnapSelling.com or email jill@snapselling.com

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I was more than a little sad and excited to find the 1st google link when I typed in “sales honesty” was a Boston Business Journal from 2006 – seriously, does that mean no one is talking about this?

Actually it doesn’t – last year Colleen Francis, one of my women sales training colleagues to the north co-wrote a book with Steven Gaffney called Honesty Sells check it out, especially if you want to read some horrifyingly funny stories of sales lies!

In A Chip Off the Block’s Pirate Edition I defined convenient honesty as using the truth when it is in your own best interest.

Today I want to express with 100% conviction that there is NEVER inconvenient honesty.

Direct Questions – are the easiest place to start. There is no gray area here, no wiggle room – if a prospect or customer asks you a direct question:

it is ok to ask clarifying questions 1st

Answer Their Question

Misdirection – I’m here to tell you that sales is not a magic show. Slight of hand, misdirection, and illusion have no place in sales! You are NOT more clever than the prospect.

Not to mention the downsides of being caught by savvy buyers with *gasp* the ability to research on the internet.

Context… or out of it – choosing fact that are true, and appear to answer the question or address the customer’s issue BUT actually don’t if the whole story is told.

I’m not saying you have to share every single thing YOU know with someone else. Rather this is about choosing specific information on the basis that it is TRUE but not ACCURATE (to quote my friend Jerry M).

Statistics the old adage “figures lie & liars figure” is about the use of numbers to create a false impression.It is important to understand how a number will come across based on the audience you’re presenting to.

Scientists and salespeople have different ideas about numbers and what they mean – be sure you use them the way your audience expects.

Be Honest – with yourself, choose to use the truth to sell, it sure does make it easier for someone to become a repeat customer! Now for some reason I am compelled to end with the Thompson Twins Lies Lies Lies

and some you can’t disguise
twisted truth and half the news
can’t hide it in your eyes

The Key when you are looking for ways to become the chosen resource for your products/services =

~ offer choices that make business sense to the prospect ~

How do you figure out what makes business sense to them? By asking questions (more on that in the next issue of A Chip Off the Block) – first we’re going to get ready with making sure we have the answer!

step 1 – what do YOU (not your company, product, or service) do for customers?

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